Ayumi Nakamura

Info

Biography

Originally from Chapel Hill, I moved to Charlottesville, VA and graduated from the University of Virginia in 2008. After graduation, I relocated to San Francisco where I worked as a technician for two years at UCSF, studying the molecular mechanism behind frontotemporal dementia. I returned to Chapel Hill and joined the UNC MD/PhD program in 2010.

Research

Regulation of apoptosis is a critical part of embryonic development. Since joining the Deshmukh Lab, I have been studying the mechanism of cell death in neural precursor cells and embryonic stem cells. I am investigating a potentially novel protein-protein interaction that exists in these cell types that could determine the precarious balance between life and death of a cell.